Jul 9, 2025; Frisco, TX, USA; Colorado head coach Deion Sanders speaks with the media during 2025 Big 12 Football Media Days at The Star. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images ORG XMIT: IMAGN-1289383 ORIG FILE ID: 20250709_rtc_cb2_3431.JPG

Deion Sanders talks a big game — anyone familiar with his career knows this. Whether he and his Colorado football team can back the talk up is a different story.

But going into his third season as the Buffaloes head coach, he doesn't seem too worried about not having Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter or his quarterbacking son, Shedeur Sanders, on the Colorado roster. Quite the opposite: He said he "wholeheartedly" feels like Colorado is actually stronger this season.

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"Now, we may not have the guy that’s going to win the Heisman, we may not have the quarterback that we know that he’s been that guy his whole darn life," Sanders recently told For The Win while promoting his partnership with California Almonds.

"But we have guys that can make that happen at that same position at quarterback, and we have some guys that could light up the scoreboard instantly. ... We may not have the lightning strikes that we had last year, but we're still going to cause a storm because we have a better team, I feel."

An improved team without a standout two-way player who won the Heisman and ultimately became the No. 2 overall 2025 NFL Draft pick seems like an exaggeration. But, unsurprisingly, Sanders' confidence is ever-present, especially because he says this squad feels like it has something to prove after 2024's impressive nine-win season when the Buffaloes were expected to win just five or six games.

Finishing fourth in the Big 12, Colorado lost one game each month in the 2024 regular season — including a three-point defeat to Kansas State — before falling to BYU in the Alamo Bowl. This year, the team opens the season Friday, hosting Georgia Tech before diving into a difficult schedule with games against three currently ranked opponents: No. 22 Iowa State, No. 11 Arizona State and No. 17 Kansas State. (Those rankings will almost certainly change after Week 1 is complete, despite the Cyclones topping the Wildcats in Week 0.)

Citing depth as the Buffs' biggest strength this season, Sanders said he's been pushing to eliminate the costly errors that led to those four losses last year. He described his 2025 Colorado team as focused, tough and challenging — but not in a bad way.

"They’re going to challenge their opponent in ways that we [previously] couldn’t — that we didn’t have the depth, that we didn’t have the focus in some areas or the expertise, especially on special teams," Sanders said while specifically hyping kicker Alejandro Mata, who started his college career with Prime Time at Jackson State before following his coach to the Buffs.

Famous for maximizing the transfer portal, Sanders — who earlier this year signed a five-year, $54 million extension with Colorado — also said the Buffaloes "enhanced the roster tremendously" this season. A key addition is Kaidon Salter, a Liberty transfer who was named the starting quarterback Tuesday.

Salter replaces Shedeur Sanders, who finished last season with the second-most passing touchdowns (37 behind Cam Ward's 39) and fourth-most passing yards (4,134) but also led FBS quarterbacks with 42 total sacks. Shedeur's absence from Boulder, along with safety Shilo Sanders', means Deion is now coaching a team without his sons on it, which dramatically altered his approach in 2025. Shedeur is the Cleveland Browns' third-string quarterback, while Shilo was recently released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"I’m happy about it because I don’t have to be the coach and the father," Sanders said about not having his sons on Colorado's roster. "Now, I can only be the coach. I can focus on being the coach, and I like that. I don’t have to be the dad. After practice, before practice, during practice, I don’t have to wear two hats. I could just wear one."

The Buffaloes also again have Sanders' undivided attention after doctors recently found a tumor in his bladder, causing him to miss time with the team this year while being treated. In July, Sanders — in a press conference with his doctor, Dr. Janet Kukreja, the director of urological oncology in the university's healthcare system — said his bladder was removed and replaced, and he's now cancer-free.

"They have the totality of my attention, they have the totality of my focus," Sanders said about beating cancer. "And these kids, they understand what my journey has been, and it has ignited them somewhat. They feel like they don’t want to let me down. I’m like, 'This ain’t about me. This is about you.'"

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why Deion Sanders says Colorado is 'better' now, even sans Travis Hunter

Reporting by Michelle R. Martinelli, For The Win / For The Win

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